meehawl

Having
em
barked on building a really big wall around the Palestinian refugee camps, in effect converting them into captive Bantustans, the Israeli government is now preparing to force Israelis who marry Palestinians to move into these Palestinian concentration camps, or to remain in Israel but never see their spouse again. No word yet on what they’ll do with any half-breeds.

Israel’s parliament on Thursday passed a new law that would force Palestinians who marry Israelis to live separate lives or move out of Israel … The law, which passed its first reading on June 18, would force newly married couples to choose between living in the Palestinian areas or living separately.

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I note from this poll that while a huge (and increasing) proportion of USians distrust Muslim politicians (38%), they reserve their especial disdain for atheist politicians (52%).

Atheism is a particular concern for white evangelical Protestants and African-Americans ? majorities of each say there are reasons why they might not vote for an atheist.

In fact, most Americans polled basically dislike atheists more than any other identified group, even the dreaded Muslims.

Muslims are less popular than people of other religious faiths but more popular than atheists. Muslim-Americans and Muslims are seen less favorably than Jews (72% favorable), Protestants (70%), and Catholics (69%), and slightly below evangelical Christians (58% favorable, 18% unfavorable). “People who aren’t religious” receive favorable ratings similar to Muslims (50%), but the public has a more unfavorable view of the non-religious (33% unfavorable). Majorities of the public continue to give atheists an unfavorable rating: 52%.

Is it really better to be feared than to be loved? And yet the number of “nonreligous” people in the US has gone up from 8% (14.3 million) in 1990 to 14.3% (29.4 million) in 2001. Atheists and fundies seem to be eating into the centrist body of US culture, polarizing opinions on both sides. Maybe it really will all end up in all-consuming stand-up fight, as per the wet dreams of certain apocalyptic nutters?

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The World Health Organization said earlier this month that SARS had been contained globally, but experts believe it may return with colder weather … the General Accounting Office warned that in a large-scale outbreak, entire hospital wards and their staffs may be needed as SARS isolation facilities. Or entire hospitals might need to be designated as SARS hospitals … “Most hospitals lack the capacity to respond to large-scale infectious disease outbreaks”.

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Before it achieves sentience!

Researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings: “the semi-living artist”. Gripping three coloured markers positioned above a white canvas, a robotic arm churns out drawings akin to that of a three-year-old. Its guidance comes from around 50,000 rat neurons in a petri dish 19,000 kilometres away.

Earlier here and here.

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Trying to beat the traffic can prove dangerous for Baghdad citizens…

Task Force 20, the special unit hunting Saddam and his inner circle, botched a raid Sunday night on a house in another part of Baghdad [leaving] five civilians dead in the shattered wrecks of cars. Several residents said the Americans erected a single roadblock leading to the house but failed to prevent motorists from straying into the fire zone by quiet side streets. They accused the troops of machine-gunning two cars, killing the occupants. ?The cars came down the road. They didn?t know the Americans were here. They were normal civilians and wanted to go home,? a witness said. ?They [U.S. soldiers] opened fire right away.?

Witnesses said two other people traveling in a sport utility vehicle had also been shot by soldiers who chased their vehicle after it left the scene. … The intensity of the shooting was evident from the condition of the Toyota, which had at least two dozen bullet holes in its front and rear windshields. Witnesses said three of the passengers, including an older woman who was wounded but not killed, were immediately taken from the car, but the body of the driver remained in the vehicle for some time.

The killings started as the troops were searching the building and as motorists approached the barbed wire which the soldiers had placed without warning across the road. Witnesses said the first car contained at least two men. “The second contained two children about 10, their mother and their father who had been wounded in the Iran-Iraq war – he was a cripple,” a local shopkeeper told me. “They all died. The man’s legs were cut in half by the bullets,” he added. A third car then approached the Americans, who opened fire again. One of the occupants fled, but the other two remained in the vehicle and were killed. When another car arrived US troops riddled it with more bullets and it burst into flames. It is believed that two people were inside and both were burnt to death. “The Americans didn’t try to help the civilians they had shot, not once,” a witness said. “They let the car burn and left the bodies where they lay, even the children. It was we who had to take them to the hospitals.”

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So not quite finished killing off one branch of the Hussein clan, the US now finds itself enmeshed in a quagmire of twisty little Husseins, all alike…

The apparent heir to the Iraqi throne, Sharif Ali bin Hussein, traveled south from Baghdad to the holy city of Najaf, meeting with senior Shiite Muslim clerics and tribal leaders … Hussein met with Ali Husseini al-Sistani, a hugely influential cleric, and the two men issued a statement calling for free elections and an elected constitutional assembly.

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So finally the DEA is getting around to banning salvia divinorum, a particularly potent hallucinogenic mint shrub that’s been rising in popularity for the past few years. What I find funniest about this classic anti-drug article is that due to its use of Overture/Google-style contextual advertising, there are several clickthroughs enabling me to buy salvia with my credit card. Now that’s what I call e-commerce!

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And who says public defenders don’t have a sense of humour? As part of a defence of a loud and obnoxious schoolkid, this guy submitted a history of “fuck” to the court, complete with Google stats.

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Apparently the US Army in Iraq is now resorting to kidnapping civilians and using the implied threat of violence against them to capture Iraqi suspects. Is this flagrant violation of Iraqi civilians’ human rights a sign of desperation, or of malice?

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: “If you want your family released, turn yourself in.” Such tactics are justified, he said, because, “It’s an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info.” They would have been released in due course, he added later.

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So they are spinning off Joey from Friends. Good luck with that. I expect it to be as successful as Joanie Loves Chachi. Could Matt LeBlanc be the new Tony Danza?

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